Jim Chapman

Jim Chapman is a young man with an extensive knowledge of male grooming. Over the past year, his YouTube channel has gone from strength to strength, where he offers men of all ages advice on how to tackle common grooming issues as well as providing in-depth product reviews.

His interactivity with his viewers is great and Jim is always on hand to offer answers to questions that are sent in by his subscribers. We at Modisch believe that it is this accessibility that has provided Jim with such a strong following.

With many men seemingly lost in the complex world that is male grooming, it is extremely refreshing to see someone who is not only passionate about the subject but confident with the use of technical terms.

In the launch issue, we will be interviewing Jim in order to bring his vast experience to the Modisch readers. You can visit his channel here

Alexey Titarenko

‘City of Shadows’ is a hauntingly beautiful photography series shot by Russian photographer Alexey Titarenko. Using long exposure, he has captured residents of St. Petersburg trying to adjust to the short winter days. Consequently, the resulting images almost seem to convey the reality of ghosts, as the shadows encompass the true human form.

The works were produced from 1992-1994, nearly twenty years ago, but they are among some of the best when working with long exposure. The Russian captures the mood of the people and the surroundings, amalgamates the two to produce something special. 

In 1983 Titarenko received a Master of Fine Arts Degree from the Department of Cinematic and Photographic Art at the Leningrad Institute of culture and immediately moved on to photography. In 1997 he was praised for his commitment and dedication to the field and invited into the Russian Union of Artists.

More of his work can be seen here

Photoshoot

On Thursday, we commenced work with the first shoot. Model James Wells was used and some very interesting pieces were shot. We perceived it as an important step in continuing to put the magazine together so all involved were relieved when the final shot was taken and we started to pack up.

I started to shoot on a dark grey backdrop. However, I couldn't get the lighting exactly how I wanted and quickly became frustrated. It was quite worrying that an hour into a two hour studio slot the whole concept was changed. Very pleased with end result though.

On hand to help were my dear friends Chris and Kelli. It also helped that James is also a close friend (knowing the model makes it easier to shoot them.) We all casually chipped in with the styling and Chris filmed a short and a longer more in-depth feature regarding the origins of Modisch.

The short can be seen in the previous post and the second video will be posted next week.

Below are a few taster images from the shoot. They haven't been edited yet so are still quite rough around the edges. Shooting in high contrast has made the broad spectrum of colours we used really come into their own.

Short by Christopher Nawrocki

A short film announcing the launch of Modisch - a contemporary magazine for the contemporary man. Produced by Chris Nawrocki.

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You can check out his blog at:

http://byhooknorcrook.blogspot.com/